Downloads of Twitter’s app in China look to have surged amid spreading unrest but searches for news about the widespread protests overwhelmingly return spam and porn results, suggesting the communist regime may be using the social media platform to obscure dissent.
Twitter ranked 10th among all free apps downloaded in Apple’s App Store in China on Tuesday, up from 150th last week, according to app analytics company Sensor Tower. The app skyrocketed in the rankings for China in recent days as protesters demonstrated against the communist regime’s COVID lockdowns.
China has long restricted Twitter’s availability but it remains accessible to people who successfully use virtual private networks and other mechanisms to bypass the technical blockade, which is also known as the “Great Firewall.